Heat or cold for rib pain?

[tennisenthusiast]

any suggestions?

[ollinger]

What is rib pain? A rib is a bone, which should not be a source of pain (unless perhaps you have metastatic prostate cancer???).

[LeeD]

Cold to reduce inflamation/swelling.
Heat to promote circulation and to warm you up after the ice.
Not at the same time, of course.

[r2473]

BBQ sauce

...

[LeeD]

If your hand is hurting, take a 20 oz rip hammer, strike it on your head, and the hand doesn't hurt anymore......
If it's your knee that is bothering you, use that same multipurpose hammer and strike yourself in the foot. You won't notice your knee hurting anymores.

[tennisenthusiast]

Originally Posted by ollinger

What is rib pain? A rib is a bone, which should not be a source of pain (unless perhaps you have metastatic prostate cancer???).

Sorry, I meant, rib cage muscle pain somewhere near left shoulder blade. This has been around for quite sometime (almost 2 years) and I have bearable pain every now and then. So I don't know if there is active inflammation or not. I should not be using heat for active inflammation...is that right?

I mean at what point does one switch from cold to heat therapy?

[tennisenthusiast]

Originally Posted by r2473

BBQ sauce

...

how about some curry powder? I like it flavorful rather than bland.

[r2473]

Originally Posted by LeeD

If your hand is hurting, take a 20 oz rip hammer, strike it on your head, and the hand doesn't hurt anymore......
If it's your knee that is bothering you, use that same multipurpose hammer and strike yourself in the foot. You won't notice your knee hurting anymores.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It's better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

[tennisenthusiast]

Originally Posted by tennisenthusiast

Sorry, I meant, rib cage muscle pain somewhere near left shoulder blade. This has been around for quite sometime (almost 2 years) and I have bearable pain every now and then. So I don't know if there is active inflammation or not. I should not be using heat for active inflammation...is that right?

I mean at what point does one switch from cold to heat therapy?

Any good suggestions please?

[floridatennisdude]

2 Advil before you play, 1 after

[LeeD]

See Doc.
Pain is pretty general. Is it a knot? Is it burning pain? Is it sharp pain?
Is it deep? Does it correlate with movement? Where is it. Shoulder blade can be a 16" diameter area.
I had a knot just below my right shoulder blade for 5 months, almost debilitating me. Cure was the first day of surfing, pushing thru head high waves, and it hasn't come back now in 15 years.

[tennisenthusiast]

Originally Posted by LeeD

See Doc.
Pain is pretty general. Is it a knot? Is it burning pain? Is it sharp pain?
Is it deep? Does it correlate with movement? Where is it. Shoulder blade can be a 16" diameter area.
I had a knot just below my right shoulder blade for 5 months, almost debilitating me. Cure was the first day of surfing, pushing thru head high waves, and it hasn't come back now in 15 years.

Thank you LeeD.

It is more like a knot. It is a dull pain which starts when I sit for extended periods of time and it also starts when I rotate my body (hitting forehands kinda motion). Pain is only in the left shoulder blade just below the blade. It has not gotten any better for about two years.

I have tried everything and everyone ortho, phy therapist, primary care, x rays, mri, chiro....everything.

Very frustrating.

[LeeD]

I tried chiropractors, after my Doc friends told me I deserved it for never warming up. At least 10 messages did nothing, except to create a dull feeling.
Now I contantly stretch to keep the back muscles loose. Figure a knot is tight. I surfed for 25 years, 5 days a week, so have calcium buildup on my shoulders and back of the neck.
I"d sweat thru some pain, try swimming freestyle and breast, to hopefully loosen that knot. It will be fragile for the first month or so, almost twinching, but keep up the loosening motion work.
Hope it helps. You had your's for 2 years, so it might be structural.

[baoshuxiong]

I am experiencing the same issue - lower rib muscle cramp. It started when I played for 3 hrs straight on a sunny 30c afternoon. & I didn't wait an hr after lunch.

Anyways, I waited a week w/o tennis or any exercise to let it go away. Now, I'm having the same problem with my right side after a day of backhand drill.

I imagine it's b/c mild-overexercise & switching to open stance. My body hasn't adapted and my form isn't perfect yet.

So, my suggestion is take it easy when playing and stop when the cramp / pain is too much.

You don't wanna suffer any serious / long term injury and has to wait out for months or more.